I am an entrepreneur and communications expert from Salt Lake City, founder of Snapp Conner PR, and author of Beyond PR: Communicate Like A Champ The Digital Age, available at http://amzn.to/1AO0PxX. I am also a frequent author and speaker on Business Communication. The opinions I express (especially when tongue in cheek) are entirely my own. My newsletter is the Snappington Post, available at http://bit.ly/1iv67Wk

Use These Four Keys For Authentic Marketing (And Higher Profitability, Too)

Yesterday I was delighted to hear Steve MacCagno, business development lead for digital marketing agency Fluid, base a part of his PR presentation to the Utah Technology Council (UTC) on the Forbes article I wrote with integrity expert Dr. David Gruder. We talked about the next era of public relations: “The Death of Spin.”

MacCagno is right. And we were right. The world is ready to rid itself of the deceptive marketing and manipulation that made the so-called Father of Public Relations, Edward Bernays, highly sought-after during the “Mad Men” era of the 1950s and 60s for his role in pioneering the art of “manufactured consent.”

No more. While deceptive marketing still happens (far too often), customers are getting smarter and are making stronger and more insightful demands. Using dark psychology to manipulate a consumer audience into supporting things they believe they chose themselves is no longer considered an admirable trait. Transparency and authentic communications have become the themes of the day. The theme became even more apparent to Dr. Gruder following his recent TEDx Encinitas presentation, “The Hijack” in March. Response was so fervent that the topic will also be the focus of his newest upcoming book.

Dr. David Gruder addresses the “Hijacking of Happiness” at TEDx Encintas, March 2014

For example, says Dr. Gruder in his presentation, consider how Bernays’ manipulative philosophy influenced our concept of “The American Dream:” At the end of World War II, Harry Truman had a dilemma on his hands. The economy had come back from The Great Depression during the war and he wanted the economy to continue to grow during peace time as well. So he conferred with experts including Bernays to come up with a plan to cause it to happen.

The plan the marketers created was called The American Dream. The dream involved the breadwinner (typically the man) to be working in a job that he didn’t really love and to work longer and longer hours to climb the corporate ladder in order to make the money his family would need to create the high consumerism lifestyle required to keep the economy growing in peacetime. Consumers were being influenced to buy more things and companies were being encouraged to produce more products that nobody really needed in order to keep the economy going well.

But no matter how many hours the man worked there still wasn’t enough money to purchase all of this “stuff”. So naturally, consumer debt began to skyrocket. Personal credit cards emerged. Society experienced a conformance crisis during the 1950s that in actuality began the hijacking of our happiness due to manufactured consent, using the tactics of—you guessed it–Edward Bernays.

The marketing version of the American Dream was a complete contradiction to the country’s original American dream, which had the pursuit of happiness as its alchemical goal–personal freedom, social responsibility, and the common good. But the 1950s convolution that still holds America and much of the world in its grip is excessive consumerism. So excessive consumerism became the definition of happiness.

“There is nothing wrong with loving toys and fun and adventures,” Gruder says. “I think all of that stuff is really pretty cool. But when that becomes what I define as happiness, big trouble.”

This is how the second American Dream overtook the first, he says, as the result of a noble goal–to keep the American economy growing—convoluted by a dark and ignoble marketing strategy. And the public naively played along.

“I have assisted leaders in business who got in trouble and got stuck because they got into the belief that they needed to sacrifice integrity and personal responsibility in order to achieve profitability,” Gruder said.

So if authenticity is the name of the game, how should corporations and consumers recognize and eliminate the negative uses of influence that continue to permeate the public relations and marketing world?

Gruder suggests the following steps:

With apologies to the “Don Drapers” of the Marketing World, we should jump out of the 1950s version of the American Dream. Why is the avoidance of excessive consumerism important? Because when we are communicating or are being taken in by the allure of unquenchable needs, we are playing into the dynamics of manufactured consent. When we are manipulated by the emotions of “you need this” and “I must have it right now,” we are brought into a deceptive marketing spell. But we only get stuck in the spell as long as we don’t know we are in it. The moment we recognize the spell for what it is and are able to name it, we are free. The spell is the American Nightmare and the theme to dispel it is Just Jump In, Gruder says.

We should jump into the act of checking facts, which is the antidote to Manfufactured Consent. The amount of “stuff” that gets passed around and passed off as fact is unbelievable, Gruder notes. But the good news for consumers is that the Internet supplies us with fact checking resources that allow us to bow out of having our opinions manipulated (or of expecting that our marketing bully pulpit allows us the right to willfully manipulate others). Just be aware, however, that some resources that purport to report facts are in fact reporting spin. For organizations, allowing customer feedback to run uncensored on your site and social media, and to respond to those comments in a collaborative and transparent way is a sign of authenticity that wins loyalty. For consumers, taking the care to double check resources, research market data and to check with other consumers before making a purchase is a way to promote and support authentic business as well. Are you ready to step out of manufactured consent?

Vote with integrity, regardless of political affiliations and party lines. Business and government will behave with integrity when that is what consumers and voters are requiring them to do. “In San Diego we voted for somebody to become Mayor who brought the concept of integrity to new lows,” Gruder says. “But he’s just one poster child. There are many others.” Regardless of our political orientation, Gruder says, when we vote in favor of integrity we are sending a message to all candidates and to both parties (and to business leaders) that we are unwilling to tolerate deceitful behavior. When we allow bad decisions to slide, overlook reprehensible behavior because of affiliations, or even make bad actors our media heroes, we are empowering manipulative marketing behaviors to thrive.

Vote with your wallets by fact checking purchases. We are voting with our wallets with every item we buy. We can vet the integrity of companies and the claims they’re making about the products and services they’re selling. When we vote with our wallets we can support the companies that have integrity and are socially responsible. For example, Tom’s Shoes contributes shoes to third world countries in exchange for each pair of shoes a customer buys. Founded by two laid-off advertising executives, HERO|farm is a social mission-focused agency with a philosophy of “Do great work for good people.” The duo works with socially responsible companies to underscore their realization of how beneficial and positively impactful advertising messaging can be when a company has an admirable mission. Through our buying behaviors we can ensure that authentic and honorable corporations are the ones that are most financially sustainable in their models as well. In your own business and purchase decisions are you willing to vote with your wallet, or does peer pressure (or the desire to make a quick profit over a sustainable one) rule the day?

Clearly, David Gruder is compelled by a dream. His idea and mission is that companies and consumers will make the conscious decision to end the marketing treachery and stop allowing ourselves to be manipulated by manufactured consent. Doing so will not only make us happier as a culture and society, but will serve to make integrity increasingly (and sustainably) profitable as well.

What will you choose? And how will you market your own company in the emerging era of authentic consent? Readers can reach Dr. Gruder directly, as a speaker and author, at www.drgruder.com.

Additional contributions to this article were provided by writer and editor W. Craig Snapp.

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Terrific insights, thanks, Cheryl. I was talking to a Silicon Valley VC recently who predicted that the new economy will be far less about production and about “stuff.” And as a consequence, even our notion of “full employment” will change, and this will be a welcome development, since our lives won’t be focused on collecting “stuff.”

Exactly, Rob, and I love the way your mind always works. The trends are not necessarily the things we might have expected, and in many respects are highly welcome developments. Perhaps, after all, the customer does know best. Here’s to the continuing strength of that movement. Thanks very much for your insights, as always! Best regards, Cheryl